Moral Dilemmas In Mclaurin's Celia, A Slave

In my eyes, a “moral dilemma” is a significant decision between everything you justify to be righteous and everything you believe to be unethical, weighing directly on your internal beliefs that define your true character. The author of Celia, A Slave Melton McLaurin defines a moral dilemma as a dire situation, where injustice is occurring, in which the chosen action will forever impact the well-being and lives of everyone involved. The moral dilemma I will be discussing centers around the Trump administration’s decision to repeal the DACA program. I will address this dilemma through explaining both sides of the argument, by connecting it to the severe situations McLaurin presented in Celia, A Salve, and in expanding my personal view on this …show more content…
Just as the Trump administration’s dilemma affects the families of Dreamers, the dilemmas in Celia’s tragic story also risk personal families’ being split apart and possibly destroyed. The first moral dilemma that arises pertains to George, another slave who was in love with Celia. After Celia became pregnant again, “it placed an emotional strain upon” him that led him to give Celia a one-sided ultimatum. Since George couldn’t protect Celia from being abused by Robert, he was left with a choice: either confront his master and risk being killed, beaten, or sent away, or demand that Celia stop having relations with Robert. George could’ve ended up ruining the slight sense of family he built if he confronted Robert physically, which is why he favored his own survival over Celia’s well-being. In turn, this presented Celia with a moral dilemma of her own in which she must choose between resisting against Robert’s sexual advances or reach out to other Newsom family members, risking her children’s safety and lives either way. Celia chose the safer path and sought help from Virginia and Mary Newsom, trying to “retain George’s affections” and put an end to her abuse with Robert. Thus, Virginia and Mary had to face their own moral dilemma, either they could do nothing and let Celia “continue to be sexually exploited by” Robert, or they could intervene and talk to him. If they chose to confront Robert, they risked the possibility of him choosing to no longer care and provide for them, seeing as their livelihoods depended on him. In order to protect themselves and their families, they decided to shy away from Celia’s pleas and look the other way. They way McLaurin presents these moral dilemmas tie them all together in concerning one matter: family. In relation, this is the same way the Trump administration faces a